Molly McEvoy

In radio over the years, there a scant few stories that touch you for the rest of your life. Such was the story of Molly McEvoy.
The community first heard of Molly on the airwaves of virtually every radio and television station in Western Massachusetts. Molly, a six year old beauty was stricken with a life threatening diagnosis. For who knows what reason, this child, in order to survive, had to have a heart and double lung transplant, at the same time. No one reading this, unless you are the parents of this little girl, could ever comprehend the severity of an operation like this.
As the date for the surgery came, tens of thousands of people listened for the latest updates on how Molly was doing through this ordeal. We waited...and waited. This operation was not only about Molly. It was about some other child, somewhere, who for reasons we will never know, became the organ donor.
The following day, the news was encouraging. Molly was on the mend. A life barely started, and she went through a trial that no adult should ever have to endure.
The daily updates soon faded to weekly ones, then monthly. Molly and her folks were on the local news a couple of times. For a while, she became sort of a girl in a bubble because of infections, illness, all the things that had to be controlled due to this incredible operation, and a never ending supply of daily medications.
I believe it was a few months later, that the McEvoy's name again appeared in the news. With all the technology, all the precautions, all the medicine, the worst possible word arose. That word was, "rejection". During the plethora of doctor visits, it was discovered that all three organs, for some reason were failing. The prognosis was bleak. Surgeons and specialists from everywhere converged in person, on the phone, in mail, trying to come to an agreement on the most effective way to resolve Molly's steadily worsening condition. When the dust cleared, and the papers settled down, a team of doctors notified the family of the best, and only option they believed they could provide. The operation had to be repeated...again. Exact same scenario.
The family made preparations as best they could. The major factor in this repeat attempted miracle, was another donor. The implications of that are too big to understand. You want your child to live, yet you pray for another solution so that another child does not have to die.
When the second surgery day came, the feeling in the Pioneer Valley was the same as the first time. It was eerily similar in all aspects. We all listened to the news and waited for this virtually unknown scenario to unfold. Late in the day the news began to trickle in. For a second time in less than a year, the surgeons and staff had pulled off the impossible. A double lung and heart transplant.
In old time movies, when news came that the war was over, everybody threw their hats into the air. If everybody that was listening to the news about Molley that day had a hat on, when the bulletin came over, the hats would have eclipsed the sun.
Once again, daily reports came and became weekly, then monthly reports. For the most part, the news was positive, and reassuring. Molly was going to make it now, and hopefully only have to worry about a lifetime of pills to stay strong.
Weeks go by, and I get to WMAS at 5 AM like I have been doing for years at that time. At 5:30 AM, the sattelite goes off, and Hello there, we are now local. Kevin Lynn was the news guy this morning, and he rattled off the news. I always "kind-of" heard the news in the background, catching a few words here and there, and as Kevin was going through the trials and tribulations of this planet, I heard the name Molly McEvoy. I cranked up the volume on my earphones, my focus completely on Kevins voice. This time, the story concerned the entire family again. But this was not a medical issue needing drastic attention, but a story about how tha McEvoys insurance company had said to them,"OK, that's enough, we want out now, we can't pay anymore, so later dudes."
Molly needs medical attention for life, and whoever this insurance provider was backs out. I might be wrong on the amount, but I believe it was over $350,000.00 that this family was in debt, might have been more, or less, I just can't recall, but whatever the amount, it was an immense amount of money.
At 5:35, when Kevin finished the news, I put a song on, and called him into the main studio. I played another song, and we ruminated on this situation. When I went on the air, I discussed it at length, and said that we, the comminity should try to help. Inside, I had no clue whatsoever as to how to help this family with this horrible situation that has now arisen. It is now 5:50 AM, I go into the first commercial break of the morning, and during this two minute break, something occurs to me, I call Kevin back in, tell him to sit down, and didn't tell him why. He sat there befuddled, we got on the air, and I announced to him and the audience that I wanted to raise $10,000.00 for this family, and I would do it by staying on the air, non stop for as long as it took. As Kevin and I were the only "in house" program at the time, all I had to do was not go to sattelite at 10 AM, and just stay there, announcing this plan all day long. Off the air, Kevin said, "Ten Thousand Bucks? You think you can do that?' I told him I had days to do it before I fell asleep, and away we went. For the next four hours, I did my show, spoke often of the new plight of the McEvoy family, and at 10 AM, I had $1200 bucks, plus.
The day rolled by, and the calls came in. Two grand at noon, 4 grand at 3PM. It seems that some folks in radio have egos the size of Rhode Island. I never did, and never will. WMAS broadcast on both AM and FM, and that afternoon, one of the FM egos stopped me in the hall to ask how this fund raising project was going. I told him I was staying on the air day and night till I hit 10 thousand for the family. He then informed me that I was a dreamer, I didn't have an audience the size of HIS audience, and I should be more realistic, and shoot for five thousand. This feeling inside me was one of almost rage. I wanted to lash out. Here is someone I have to work with, and he tells me to be realistic. I walked away from him rather than explode. There was nothing to stop me from doing this for this family who has been through unbearable weeks and months of worry.
Dave Madsen from channel 40 heard about this also. He called me and said he wasn't going to do just a story, but he was sending a crew to do a live shot on the 5:30 news.
By five o'clock, we were around six thousand, and I knew I was going to be in for a long night, but I was now on the air almost 12 hours, and raring to go. Needless to say, a lot of people were getting involved in this. Stores in the area put out fish bowls, companies took up collections, BANKS were donating money! Right after 5:30, channel 40 showed up and we took to the airwaves. That was the straw. The phone lines were cooking all over the station with donations. Around this time, I noticed something I never saw before or since. Every WMAS employee had stayed to answer phones and take donations. The whole sales department, the General Manager, and a lot of FM guys, and the FM guy was telling his audience to go to the AM side, and listen to me. Absolutely unprecidented. Some lady from Vermont was listening in her car while driving home to Vermont. She called as she traversed up 91 and donated $250.00....amazing.
At 6:30, this caring,giving community had donated $8900 dollars, and I would stay there till I had my 10 grand. By that time, most of the station had cleared out except for a few, including Kevin Lynn, the news guy. He stuck it out all day with me. The impact of the News 40 broadcast was the determining factor in this effort. Someone took a picture of me, my wife Linda, Carolee Salerno and a melting Kevin Lynn in the studio. To this day, this picture hangs on a wall in my home. That's it at the top of this post. Old friend Dave Madsen came through for the family by sending a crew to the station, but Dave is always there for those who need help. This area is blessed to have such a strong caring man at the helm of the news department at WGGB.
At 7:20 PM that day I took to the airwaves. A little, small AM radio station had managed to garner $10,300.00 in less that 14 hours. It was the most exhausting day I have ever spent in radio, but I would stay there till I reached the goal for this family. I was being realistic. I know New Englanders. When in need, we help our neighbors. To that FM guy. Thanks for the help. Your lack of caring inspired me to never give up that day.
As it worked out, I was unaware that a fundraiser was to take place at Smith College the following Sunday. An incredibly gifted pianist, Zach Davids was to perform a piano concert, including a song he had written months earlier. The song was entitled, "Molly's Song", and it was somewhat reminicent of Jim Brickman's fine work, but make no mistake, this was Zach"s music, and he is probably the finest pianists I have ever heard. More amazing, I believe he was 16 at the time of this performance. Zach, too, wanted to help this family. I showed up unexpectedly at the college, and spoke during a break of Zach's music. Tucked under my coat was a manilla envelope with a large amount of the proceeds that I presented to Molly's father in front of the audience, and announced the final total of the radiothon. On the air, I told the audience I would not announce the final total till it all came in. After all was said and done, we were about $200.00 short of the original total.
Western Mass. did it. OK, so it wasn't the hundreds of thousands they needed then, but it was a start, and I hope it led to other good things for the family.
A few weeks after the radiothon, I was working in front of my house. A fair amount of foot traffic is common there in warm weather. A lady who goes by on occasion stopped to talk to me. She had heard much of the radiothon that day, and asked if I could do the same thing for her grand-daughter. Instantly, I felt knots in my stomach. Did I want to help? Of course. Could I? No, I couldn't. Jerry Lewis raises amazing money for MD every year, but that is planned. The Labor Day Telethon, is as much a part of Labor Day as It's A Wonderful Life is to Christmas. This scenario on the sidewalk in front of my house never, for an instant ever occured to me. How can you help one, and not another? Is my child less important than someone else's child? Does one child have to die before another can live? I never pondered this happening.
What I started for the McEvoy family was a spur of the moment idea. It was a way to help. Unlike The Labor Day Telethon, it was not prepared, it was not promoted...it was not expected. To try and do this on a regular basis could not be done. I tried to explain this as delicately as possible to this lady. She left, dejected, and to this day I feel her pain, as it has never left me. I never again got involved in a project like this, and I never will. It is far too hurtful to people who have life or death issues in their lives.
We passed through the summer and into the fall. My morning show was on every day. One morning I went in at 5 AM as always. At 5:30, Kevin Lynn went on the air with the news of all of the trials and tribulations of this planet. I just catch a word or two of his news casts as usual. This morning I heard a name that made me crank up the monitor. It was Molly. There would be no third operation. There would by no hope for any more miracles. God thinks she had enough. Time to go home little girl.
There are few things in life sadder than a small casket. Such was the case when friends and family gathered by the hundreds to say good-bye to a little girl they never knew in life, including me, but will carry in their hearts as long as they are here. To this day I wish I could have done more. So do a lot of people.